Facebook filed to raise a targeted $5 billion in a hotly anticipated initial public offering on Wednesday, setting the stage for Silicon Valley's largest-ever IPO.

The world's largest social network, a dorm room project for Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg that exploded in popularity and vaulted to Silicon Valley's top tier within 8 years, said in its preliminary filing that its net income rose 65 per cent to $1billion in 2011, off revenue of $3.71billion.

The long-awaited submission kicks off a months-long process that will culminate in Silicon Valley's biggest coming-out party since the heyday of the dotcom boom and bust.

IPO frenzy: Facebook has issued an initial public offering which could value the company at $100billion

Facebook, which said it now has 845million active users, appointed Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan its lead underwriters.

Facebook had previously been expected to raise $10billion in what would have been the fourth-largest IPO in U.S. history, after Visa Inc, General Motors, and AT&T Wireless, according to Thomson Reuters data.